Bangkok - A Thai tour bus taking university students on a field trip overturned into a ditch Friday, killing at least 22 passengers and injuring about 30 others, police said.

The driver lost control of the vehicle when navigating a steep curve in Nadi district, Prachinburi province, 140 kilometres northeast of Bangkok, said senior sergeant Thiradej Virakul of Wang Daeng police station.

"We suspect the brakes didn't work," Thiradej told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Bangkok  - Embattled Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawak will visit Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar next week despite problems at home, foreign ministry sources said Thursday.

Somchai, who was appointed premier on September 25, will visit Laos on Sunday, Cambodia on Monday and Myanmar on Wednesday, the Thai Foreign Ministry announced.

He has scheduled similar one-day visits to Singapore and Indonesia in the near future, said a ministry official.

Somchai has had a tempestuous first week in office.

Bangkok - Forensic evidence on casualties of Tuesday's bloody showdown between police and anti-government protestors in Bangkok suggest that deadlier weapons than teargas were used in the clash that left two dead and more than 400 injured, doctors said Thursday.

Angkhana Radabpanyawoot, 25, one of the casualties in Tuesday's clash, was killed by an explosive, not a teargas canister, according to Dr Vichan Peonim, the head of Ramathibodi Hospital's forensic department.

Bangkok - Thai shares lost 6.88 per cent Wednesday on pessimism about the US financial crisis and 700-billion-dollar bail-out.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index ended at 492.34, down 36.37 points or 6.88 per cent, crashing past the 500-point psychological barrier.

The freefall followed a day of bloody street fighting in the capital Tuesday that left two dead and 437 injured, but the hubbub had quieted down by Wednesday.

Bangkok- A showdown in Bangkok between police and protestors around Parliament claimed two dead and 437 injured, public health officials said Wednesday.

Bangkok - An anti-government protest turned bloody Tuesday, claiming at least one dead and about a hundred injured as police confronted followers of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to help legislators first get in and then get out of Parliament.